Ball is in IMF’s Court now: President

Whilst highlighting that Sri Lanka has fulfilled all conditions laid down by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to receive assistance, President Ranil Wickremeisnghe told Parliament that the ball is now in the IMF's court.

“We have fulfilled all conditions as we have revised electricity tariff, fuel prices, and taxes as requested by the IMF. We received assurance from the Paris Club on the agreement on debt assurance in January, while the Paris Club also gave its assurance during the same month. Finally we have received assurance from Exim Bank midnight on Monday. We took some difficult decisions to stabilize the economy. We had to revise the taxes to reverse the decline of tax revenue which was only 8%  of the GDP after tax concessions were given in 2019. We had to revise electricity tariff and fuel prices. We are aware that people are undergoing severe difficulties. The professionals say the taxes are unbearable. People of this country will have to bear difficulties till August this year. We will be able to reverse some decisions we have made by August this year.” the President said.

“Sri Lanka’s economy suffered a down turn in February this year. The government declared a defaulting of debts in April last year and the country officially became a bankrupt state. There were long queues to purchase fuel and gas,” he recalled.

“However the economy is showing signs of recovery. The rupee appreciates continuously.  Foreign remittance which was down to one third of the usually average amount has now been increased. Tourism which came to a standstill had picked up. These achievements would not have been possible if the security forces and the police were not able to arrest anarchy on July 9, 2023. We cannot afford to allow few groups to reverse the situation and disrupt the nation once again. The economy would be in a worse situation than it was in February 2022 in such an eventuality, we will have to take stern action to stop   disruption of the nation through protests,”  the President warned. 

‘We will introduce new legislation soon on the next course of action. We will also bring in a resolution to seek the approval of the House for the IMF agreement. I would like to tell the trade unions and the opposition that Sri Lanka cannot afford to break the agreement which we have come to with the IMF. Therefore I request the opposition to cooperate with us in this decisive moment," he stressed.(Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)